Vermont State Police: Investigators looking into reports of fentanyl packaged and sold as heroin

WATERBURY, Vt. -- State police say they are looking into reports of fentanyl being packaged and sold as heroin.

Vermont State Police remain tight-lipped about their investigation, other than to say that injection of the drug can be lethal and that investigators continue to develop their information. Stephanie Dasaro, public information officer for the Vermont State Police, said additional details will be released as soon as they are available.

Heroin laced with the powerful painkiller is suspected in at least 50 recent fatal overdoes in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Maryland, ABC News has reported.

In his state of the state address last month, Gov. Peter Shumlin warned that Vermont was in the midst of a "full-blown heroin crisis".

Sgt. John M. Delaney, spokesman for the Springfield (Mass.) Police Department, said there is no indication that fentanyl is being sold in the city. Both Springfield and Holyoke have struggled with the issue of Vermont drug users heading to those cities to purchase heroin and other drugs.

The news comes as investigators continue to probe the suspected heroin overdose of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, found dead Sunday morning in his Manhattan apartment with a hypodermic needle in his arm. While officials did not find fentanyl in drug residue found at Hoffman's apartment, the autopsy was deemed inconclusive pending toxicology tests, according to ABC News.